princess platinum insurance: does it cover air in this case?

[luckyinpa]

potential storm this weekend and my gf travels from dallas to philly.. i wrote to my princess TA what about if there are plane delays or cancellations. she wrote:

 

The travel protection will only cover air costs if you booked the air through Princess. However the travel protection will still be applicable to the cruise penalty costs if you needed to cancel the cruise due to her flight being canceled and the trip interruption.

 

so she's saying in no case will princess pay for any of the air /change fee, etc. however in the princess literature i found this: Reimbursement for catch-up expenses like meals and hotel if you are delayed getting to or from your trip Up to $500* pre-cruise   and i can find nothing saying this applies only to EZ air

 

so my questions are this:

 

1 assuming the flight is cancelled and spirit (who has only about 3 flights a day) cannot get her to the cruise on time by the next day, i'm assuming she'd get  cruise money back in cash no problem? 

 

2. are we obligated to pay for a more expensive flight (could be 500 to 1000 even last minute) to mitigate missing the cruise? of course we want the cruise but paying 1000 to make it there is just not gonna happen.

 

3. i'm already in PA but assuming that id get the money back as well?

 

basically what are the responsibilities we have if the flight is canceled is what i'm asking here. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 23, 2018 by luckyinpa

[riffatsea]

Hi,

I just read the Princess Vacation protection contract on line.

It covers your "cruise" expenses and does not mention anything about separate airline tix at all.

It specifically says it covers your cruise vacation expenses.

You can read it yourself here:

https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/faq_answer_legal/Princess_Vacation_Protection.pdf

It does mention that IF you book through EZ Air they will not cover lost luggage.

I think you are on your own with the airline tix.

[luckyinpa]

so then i wonder why this is in the contract and how it applies

 

to whom would this apply?

[cherylandtk]

Reading travel insurance policies requires a lot of flipping back and forth from one section to another.

1.  Page 1 of the policy (pg. 2 of the linked .pdf) shows Protection for EZ Air under the ‘Extra feature’ paragraph.  It also defines it under the Cruise Vacation definition.  So yes, your air is covered insofar as what the policy covers. In addition, EZAir comes with a Late Arrival Protection clause, which essentially means Princess will get her to the ship at a subsequent port if her EZAir flight is delayed or cancelled. Make sure she has the Princess EnRoute emergency numbers with her in case this happens, and she will need a passport to use this feature.

2. She may wish, instead, to consider invoking the Any Reason Cancellation coverage.  This does not provide cash, but does provide credit for a future cruise.  There is a time limit to use the credit.  Credit is 75% or 100% depending on which level of coverage was purchased. And she must cancel before the published departure date and time.

3. You would have to decide whether to embark without her and meet up at the later port, or to cancel for Any Reason and take the credit. Either way you won’t get a cash refund.

[cherylandtk]

16 minutes ago, luckyinpa said:

so then i wonder why this is in the contract and how it applies

 

to whom would this apply?

All these items are covered up to the maximum shown in the Confirmation of Coverage limit of $500.  

[riffatsea]

They didn't book EZ air so saying what EZ Air will cover doesn't apply.

It also talks about getting back to your home but it doesn't talk about getting TO the ship at all.

In fact it specifically says on page 2 that it will cove expenses for land or water transportation and doesn't mention air at all!!

It only mentions air in relation to a medical emergency which may cause you to leave the ship.

Edited October 23, 2018 by riffatsea

[luckyinpa]

so you think letter B is really under letter A and letter B  "any reasonable additional expenses' doesnt include air  and B is a subset of A?

 

see, i think letter B is a 'stand alone' type of statement but we hopefully never have to find out

 

also what other modes of transportation use 'economy fare' in their lingo? i dont do buses or trains so dont know if that term is used. to me when i hear economy fare i think air always. 

 

and letter C says specifically you will be covered to the destination where you can catch up to your trip. see to me id think most cruise ships go places that require air to catch up with them if you miss the ship. is that unreasonable to assume? lawyers wrote things things but yet never mentioned air but if you miss your ship and have to go to the bahamas thats a plane ride for sure. so did the write these knowing no one will be covered for air and thus its a meaningless statement or do they know it takes air to catch up to a ship and thats what letter C actually means?

[cherylandtk]

39 minutes ago, riffatsea said:

They didn't book EZ air so saying what EZ Air will cover doesn't apply.

It also talks about getting back to your home but it doesn't talk about getting TO the ship at all.

In fact it specifically says on page 2 that it will cove expenses for land or water transportation and doesn't mention air at all!!

It only mentions air in relation to a medical emergency which may cause you to leave the ship.

Ah...you are correct, I misread the original post.  😟

what I wrote above doesn’t apply to the OP, other than the Any Reason Cancellation.

Edited October 23, 2018 by cherylandtk

[cherylandtk]

39 minutes ago, luckyinpa said:

so you think letter B is really under letter A and letter B  "any reasonable additional expenses' doesnt include air  and B is a subset of A?

 

see, i think letter B is a 'stand alone' type of statement but we hopefully never have to find out

 

also what other modes of transportation use 'economy fare' in their lingo? i dont do buses or trains so dont know if that term is used. to me when i hear economy fare i think air always. 

 

and letter C says specifically you will be covered to the destination where you can catch up to your trip. see to me id think most cruise ships go places that require air to catch up with them if you miss the ship. is that unreasonable to assume? lawyers wrote things things but yet never mentioned air but if you miss your ship and have to go to the bahamas thats a plane ride for sure. so did the write these knowing no one will be covered for air and thus its a meaningless statement or do they know it takes air to catch up to a ship and thats what letter C actually means?

Here’s the deal (sorry for all the inapplicable info in my earlier post regarding EZAir).  Trip delay is the section applicable to your question of weather delays, that is Part A.  It has a coverage limit of $500, period.  So that is the most you could recover in the event of a claim, and that is the limit for ALL reimbursable expenses and/or refunds.

 

Because of that, you may be better off using the Any Reason Cancellation option, prior to departure, rather than attempting to change flights or meet up at a future port.  It doesn’t get you a cash refund, but neither does it require you to spend $$$ getting to the ship.

Edited October 23, 2018 by cherylandtk

[RDC1]

4 hours ago, luckyinpa said:

potential storm this weekend and my gf travels from dallas to philly.. i wrote to my princess TA what about if there are plane delays or cancellations. she wrote:

 

The travel protection will only cover air costs if you booked the air through Princess. However the travel protection will still be applicable to the cruise penalty costs if you needed to cancel the cruise due to her flight being canceled and the trip interruption.

 

so she's saying in no case will princess pay for any of the air /change fee, etc. however in the princess literature i found this: Reimbursement for catch-up expenses like meals and hotel if you are delayed getting to or from your trip Up to $500* pre-cruise   and i can find nothing saying this applies only to EZ air

 

so my questions are this:

 

1 assuming the flight is cancelled and spirit (who has only about 3 flights a day) cannot get her to the cruise on time by the next day, i'm assuming she'd get  cruise money back in cash no problem? 

 

2. are we obligated to pay for a more expensive flight (could be 500 to 1000 even last minute) to mitigate missing the cruise? of course we want the cruise but paying 1000 to make it there is just not gonna happen.

 

3. i'm already in PA but assuming that id get the money back as well?

 

basically what are the responsibilities we have if the flight is canceled is what i'm asking here. 

 

 

That means If you did not book EZair then you are totally on your own if something goes wrong prior to your first Princess contact (transfer or actually ship check in). 

 

The insurance does not cover any airline costs, changes, catching up with the ship.  No insurance coverage you are on your own.

 

It also means that once you leave the ship your coverage stops and anything that goes wrong once you leave the ship is not covered. Fall and break a leg in the air port, no coverage.

[basor]

A good reminder to look at independent travel insurance instead of purchasing from the cruise line.....then your trip is covered (air, cruise, hotel, tours, etc.) up to the amount of coverage you purchased...

[Coral]

You seem to have a lot of issues with traveling - maybe using a TA will help in the future. I also agree with using a 3rd party travel insurance that could include air purchased on your own.

[riffatsea]

We pay with a credit card that includes travel insurance.

We also buy separate medical coverage since our own policy only covers emergency care abroad and not evacuation.

The cruise line insurance is good for cruise coverage and for air IF you buy through the cruise line.

[fishywood]

Weather delays are NOT a covered reason for cancelling your cruise altogether. You would NOT receive ANY refund of your cruise fare if you just gave up when your non-Princess-air flight was cancelled. The CFAR clause would get you a future cruise credit for the amount of any cancellation fees if you notified Princess of the cancellation before sailing. 

 

The Princess Vacation Protection would reimburse you for any expenses incurred during travel delays even if you booked travel on your own. It would be up to you to make the arrangements to either get to the embarkation port by any means necessary, or to meet the ship at the first port of call. But again, just giving up as you propose in the first question of the opening post will get you nothing. All insurance policies require you to make every herculean effort to get to the ship no matter how severe the intervening Act of God.

[luckyinpa]

17 minutes ago, fishywood said:

Weather delays are NOT a covered reason for cancelling your cruise altogether. You would NOT receive ANY refund of your cruise fare if you just gave up when your non-Princess-air flight was cancelled. The CFAR clause would get you a future cruise credit for the amount of any cancellation fees if you notified Princess of the cancellation before sailing. 

 

The Princess Vacation Protection would reimburse you for any expenses incurred during travel delays even if you booked travel on your own. It would be up to you to make the arrangements to either get to the embarkation port by any means necessary, or to meet the ship at the first port of call. But again, just giving up as you propose in the first question of the opening post will get you nothing. All insurance policies require you to make every herculean effort to get to the ship no matter how severe the intervening Act of God.

 

see i cannot find that anywhere in the policy about making effort.  can you show me where in the document it says that?

 

and my princess TA wrote :

 

I wouldn’t say you’re obligated to pay for a higher costs flight, but when any independent travel arrangements are made outside of Princess the travel protection cannot be extended to cover these trip interruptions.

 

-------------

i did find this paragraph which seems to specifically say air is covered. i think.....

[whatcruiseisnext]

Philly is not  a port of embarkation for Princess. So what cruise are you referring to? If she is just meeting you there and you are traveling elsewhere to embark the ship...I would think that your Princess platinum insurance would not cover  her at all. She is not attempting to get to the embarkation port.

[riffatsea]

We can discuss this back and forth all day but the only people who can really tell you anything about coverage/claims etc is the insurance company and not Princess sales reps or agents.

This is the number mentioned to call to get claims forms .

I don't know if the people answering the phone know anything

 

:

1-877-846-8833 or 1-516-342-2720

[RDC1]

7 hours ago, RDC1 said:

That means If you did not book EZair then you are totally on your own if something goes wrong prior to your first Princess contact (transfer or actually ship check in). 

 

The insurance does not cover any airline costs, changes, catching up with the ship.  No insurance coverage you are on your own.

 

It also means that once you leave the ship your coverage stops and anything that goes wrong once you leave the ship is not covered. Fall and break a leg in the air port, no coverage.

Have to change my post I did go back and check my notes from when we had a need to try and use the policy.  This was when we were heading to catch the Pacific Princess in Tahiti, flying through Hawaii.  There was a hurricane threatening Hawaii. We were booked on an Hawaiian air flight.  There was a possibilility that the airport would be closed and our plane would not fly. Hawaiian air only does that route once per week. The insurance company told me that this would be a travel delay. The most that they would cover would be $500, no matter how much we had to pay to get there. We were on our own on how to get there, but the max payout for hotel, air fare, etc was capped at $500 for getting to the ship.

[Ombud]

When this happened to me in June princess travel interrupted desk told me to work it out with the airlines. You're on your own (I booked EZAIR at wound up on my own at the airport)

Edited October 24, 2018 by Ombud